Welcome to an Engaged Community

There's a better way to personalize your website experience. With myConnection, the profile you create allows you to set up a unique starting point for the tasks and transactions that you want to complete in your time on this website. Use myConnection to gather the information that you most care about from across this website into one central location, giving you greater control over how you connect with your community.

History

In 1887, Robert W. Poindexter was granted title to the present site of Moorpark. He named the city after the Moorpark apricot which grew throughout the valley. Poindexter plotted Moorpark city streets and planted Pepper trees in the downtown area. The photographs below are courtesy of the Moorpark Historical Society www.moorparkhistoricalsociety.org.

Apricot Cutters
This was a very common scene during apricot season. The apricots would be brought from the field in crates and each apricot was cut in half using a special knife.

The apricot halves would then be placed on large trays to dry.

Moorpark in 1912
This is a view of Moorpark circa 1912. In the photo, taken from the northern end of town, you can clearly see the Methodist Church before it was added on to.

You can also see the Moorpark Elementary School, which was moved to the corner of Charles Street and Walnut Street from the Peach Hill area around 1904.

Moorpark Avenue, 1920s
This is a view of Moorpark Avenue looking north from Los Angeles Avenue.

Moorpark Union High School 1937
This is a photo of the original Moorpark High School. Construction was started in 1920 and it was named Moorpark Memorial Union High School (the ´Memorial´ in the title was placed there as a remembrance to those who lost their lives during WWI.)

It remained in use until 1939 when it had to be shut down due to damage received in an earthquake. In that same year, the second of Moorpark´s high schools was built in the same location on Casey Road (where Walnut Canyon School stands today) and was used until the new high school was built in the late 1980s.

High Street 1920s
Looking west down High Street.

Methodist Church 1930s
This is a picture of the Methodist Church in the 1930s. The original structure was moved in about 1904 from the small farming community of Epworth, which was located just north of Moorpark in the Fairview district.

In 1919, another church, the M.E. Fowler Methodist Church from Somis, was added to the existing structure. This church still stands today and is one of only two county historical landmarks in Moorpark.

Depot
This is a picture of the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot that was located roughly on the corner of Moorpark Avenue and High Street.

The depot was built in the early 1900s and served as a regular stop on the coast line of the Southern Pacific after the completion of the Santa Susana tunnel in 1904.

The depot remained in service for many years and was finally demolished in 1964.

Flory Street School
This picture is the front of the Flory Street School, which was built in 1928. It replaced the old one-room school house that had been used by the children of Moorpark for over 25 years.

It was announced in June of 1968 that the school was unsafe and not up to the earthquake proof standards of the Field Act. In March of 1969, the demolition of parts of the school began and new, safer, buildings were erected.